NOW I see why retirees move to Florida!

[Rustic23]

Maybe folks older than 40 have more since than to pay $5 for a cup of coffee.

 

[W2R]

I agree with what Moemg said about most people moving from elsewhere and therefore looking for friends and new social connections. I live in a small retirement community where everyone (this is not an exaggeration---I mean everyone of 76 homes, with the exception of DH and I who have no family) moved here to be by their kids. There are a couple who moved here less than a year ago and now thet kids may get transferred or voluntarily move, and they are going to be uprooted again, following the kids. And most of them are very involved in their kids' lives, almost raising the grandkids, with not much time or interest for making new friends.

How awful!! Sounds like they really do not have a life beyond babysitting. Sure, grandkids are nice, but there is more to life, people!! They should listen to that great Dennis Hopper commercial about Dreams (I know, I know - - great commercial, bad product). But really, if they still had their dreams they would be doing something else now and then, it seems to me.

If we baby boomers are really as plentiful as we're supposed to be, why is it that I never see anyone older than 40 at Starbucks?

Because we're at work all the time.

My 29-year-old daughter nearly lives at Starbucks. She hasn't "seen the light" financially, so she is probably charging her coffee to one of her over-extended credit cards.

I bring my coffee to work from home, in one of those car-mugs. I love good coffee but this is cheaper and faster.

I do think you have a point. If you look at the actual population curve, the baby boom is not THAT huge. Sure, our generation is an anomaly, but the press sometimes implies that it is bigger than it really is.

 

[Orchidflower]

I love my son. I adore my son. I spent 20 years of his life not dating to raise him. I gave him my total attention, time and money. I have done my job. I am not obligated to raise his kids if he ever has one. I feel I have done my time in "Motherhoodland." (This is my little sermon so he knows not to expect me to be responsible for his "mistakes" if he ever has one. So far, so good, tho.)
In other words, I consider myself a free agent now, baby....whoopie!!!!!

 

[Moemg]

I do not want to raise my grandkids or be a permanent babysitter but grandkids are the best thing since sliced bread . My SO has four and I have one on the way and they are a blast . We can play with them and send them home .

 

[Orchidflower]

As it should be, Moemg. As it should be.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

I do not want to raise my grandkids or be a permanent babysitter but grandkids are the best thing since sliced bread . My SO has four and I have one on the way and they are a blast . We can play with them and send them home .

One of my main reasons for wanting to retire early is to spend more time with our grandchildren in distant locations. It's not the only reason, and won't be our primary goal in life, but twice a year for each of them (California and Missouri ) is not enough. Turn around and they'll be pre-teens and will be way too busy with their friends and activities to have any time or interest in us.

For all of that we've still got to continue a fulfilling life for ourselves, granted. But my first trip after FIRE will be a slow boat to visit each set for as long as they can stand having us around.

 

[haha]

If we baby boomers are really as plentiful as we're supposed to be, why is it that I never see anyone older than 40 at Starbucks?

It's because we have been around long enough to know where they still serve quality espresso, and it isn't Starbucks. The coffin nail for Starbucks quality was when they went to the automated espresso maker machines.

BTW, went in the original Starbucks today, in the Pike Place Market. Still looks about like it did 40 or so years ago, but I believe that it has been relocated or re-created in the market. My memeory is that it was first on one of the streets downhill from the market, between the market and the Bay. I don't remember that they served retail coffee then. You just bought the beans and took them home. My wife had a stovetop espresso maker that she brought from Italy. They are still available, and look just like they always did. Maybe I will get one, though I usually prefer to go out for special coffee.

Anyway, if you looked in Seattle you would find lots of seasoned gentlemen hanging out in coffee houses.

Ha

 

[Orchidflower]

There is a couple at my pool who graduated high school around my time. Their youngest son dumped is two little kids (3 and 5) off with the grandparents. They have had them for 2 years now.
The husband is overweight and the kids just burn him out now that they are 5 and 7, and both love the kids alot...but feel burdened by this responsibility both emotionally and financially.
In other words, this proud couple has actually had to get some assistance from others to raise these kids--even tho he has a pension from a major corporation and both have SSI.
Yes we should love and adore--and spend so much time as you can with--the grandkids. But, I, myself, do not want to raise any at 63 and beyond. Sound selfish? It might be...but I see how hard it is for others. Of course, if I really, really had to, I would...but I do not want to be put in that position to find out.

 

[W2R]

Yes we should love and adore--and spend so much time as you can with--the grandkids. But, I, myself, do not want to raise any at 63 and beyond. Sound selfish? It might be...but I see how hard it is for others. Of course, if I really, really had to, I would...but I do not want to be put in that position to find out.

We made a couple of things clear to DD when she was growing up, by pointing out examples and letting our opinions (pro and con) be known. By the time she was grown, she knew that:

• After high school, she would either be in college or else self-supporting and out of the house; and

• If she had a child, that child would be her responsibility and not ours (as well as how children are conceived, and how that can be prevented if desired).

Of course, if she had shown up on my doorstep with a grandchild and penniless, never in a million years would I have turned her away!! But we did not tell her that, and so far, that hasn't happened. She went to college and right now she is 29, completely self-supporting, and living on her own, in a different state from either her father or me.

Part of the responsibilities of parenthood is teaching the child some limits (and I think you and I have probably done that), but maybe some other parents have other limits than we have.

 

[kcowan]

My 3 grandchildren are across the country and I see them once a year. Used to be more often but they are their own people now and they know me well. I remember when I was the age of my kids, that I appreciated my independence. So I respect them and raised them to be fiercely independent.

 

[Zoocat]

Want to have some friends, find a guy, play bingo...whatever...and 30 year olds just do not normally want to hang with 60 year olds. Reasoning for going geezer patrol..

Well, how many friends your age do you really need or want? I know some extroverts might need a huge number of friends but, really, most people only enjoy spending time with those like minded close friends and those are usually few in number.

So if you're single and looking for single men then I would focus on the cities that are compatible to your lifestyle, politics, and culture and activities. Then zero in on your research. Look up singles groups. You could even email someone in the group. If you like the outdoors, hiking, mountains, I'd recommend Denver. There are lots of single men and lots of social activities to get involved in.

The problem is that there are lots more single men than women at our age. Also, it takes some effort, ok LOTS of effort, to get out there and meet them. So I understand your reasoning in wanting to live somewhere there are lots of people your age. Good luck!

 

[Orchidflower]

OldBabe, I think you meant there are lots of women compared to men our age, didn't you (kinda bass ackwards).
Yeah...I am an extreme extrovert who likes solitary activities, too.
Good ideas from you, thanks.
Guess I will just have to find a guy by acting my usual noncommittal "I don't care if you want me or not" attitude....seems to attract them more...ha!ha!
(Pssst...don't tell anyone my strategy...)

 

[Zoocat]

Yeah, that is what I meant,although if you go to Alaska, I hear the ratio is more single men than women. But, as they say up there, the odds are good but the goods are odd.

 

[Moemg]

OldBabe, I think you meant there are lots of women compared to men our age, didn't you (kinda bass ackwards).
uote]


Yes at our age there are more women than men but if you are open minded you'll meet someone .

 

[audreyh1]

The "geezers" live just outside the major metropolitan areas in Texas. Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio etc. all have many retirement communities in scenic areas within 50 miles. The "geezers" just like to get out of the major areas a little bit FOR GOOD REASON. If you visit the smaller "nice" towns of Texas, you'll find loads of folks who have retired from the major metropolitan areas.

Audrey

 

[Orchidflower]

I second audreyh1's opinion. I just did a study of DFW, Austin and Houston myself for where the geezers are moving to. Right on...they are moving out for the lower taxes, cheaper housing and where the lakes and golf courses are; although, I did not find so many in the Houston area as the other cities, tho, but I confess to not looking very hard there (22 years was enough of the humidity for me!).

 

[audreyh1]

Right on...they are moving out for the lower taxes, cheaper housing and where the lakes and golf courses are;

Not to mention lower crime rates, significantly less traffic, more easy going pace of life - people actually stop to talk to each other (shock!).

The list of benefits goes on and on.

Audrey

 

[Orchidflower]

Now the only problem I see with Austin is cedar fever...which, I understand, has killed a few people. Man! that must be some allergy!!!!!

 

[REWahoo]

Now the only problem I see with Austin is cedar fever...which, I understand, has killed a few people. Man! that must be some allergy!!!!!

I'm not sure it's actually killed anyone, but I have seen some cedar fever victims who appeared to wish they were dead...

 

[audreyh1]

Now the only problem I see with Austin is cedar fever...which, I understand, has killed a few people. Man! that must be some allergy!!!!!

[30 year Austinite - but got out of there as soon as I could after ER - nice city, but it's way too big and crowded!]

My husband gets everything EXCEPT cedar fever. It's all over Texas. Way up in the panhandle in Palo Duro Canyon, the cedars (ash juniper) were extremely loaded with pollen, just waiting for the right cool fall day to explode. Yes, those trees literally explode their pollen. I remember a cedar choked hillside from my Austin office at the edge of the hill country, and watching one fall day as one tree after another exploded into giant puffs of yellow "smoke". Just amazing.

But not everyone develops the allergy, although plenty do. For DH it's more ragweed (bad, but over much of US), and spring tree pollen.

Audrey

 

[ziggy29]

[30 year Austinite - but got out of there as soon as I could after ER - nice city, but it's way too big and crowded!]

My husband gets everything EXCEPT cedar fever. It's all over Texas. Way up in the panhandle in Palo Duro Canyon, the cedars (ash juniper) were extremely loaded with pollen, just waiting for the right cool fall day to explode. Yes, those trees literally explode their pollen. I remember a cedar choked hillside from my Austin office at the edge of the hill country, and watching one fall day as one tree after another exploded into giant puffs of yellow "smoke". Just amazing.

Knock on wood, but last year was my first living in the Hill Country (about 60 miles northwest of Austin), and it didn't bug me in the least. I don't think it affected my wife, either.

Now that I say that I'm going to get it bad this year, just watch...

 

[REWahoo]

Knock on wood, but last year was my first living in the Hill Country (about 60 miles northwest of Austin), and it didn't bug me in the least. I don't think it affected my wife, either.

Now that I say that I'm going to get it bad this year, just watch...

Ya never know when your number might come up and you develop a severe allergy to the stuff. Some people never do, some go for years with no problem, then get bushwhacked by it.

For those of you who may not be familiar with the winter pollinating ash juniper (mountain cedar), here's an introduction:

"...cedar fever is not just any allergy. It's a scourge, a plague that smites the just and the unjust who have the misfortune to live anywhere in a broad strip of Central Texas that stretches from the Red River to the Rio Grande. The progenitor of all this misery is a medium-sized, frankly undistinguished tree with sinewy limbs covered in shaggy bark that vaguely resembles orangutan fur. Despite its common name, the mountain cedar is actually a juniper (Juniperus ashei). Every year around December, we blunder into the midst of the cedar's mating ritual. It begins with the appearance of the male cones--embarrassingly small, amber-colored structures no larger than a grain of rice. In good years (or bad, depending on your viewpoint) they blanket the tops of the trees, turning them an aggressive tawny orange. When the wind rises, great gritty clouds of the pollen drift aloft, making the woods look like they are aflame. This airborne milt can waft for miles until it runs into something sticky, like the small green cone of the female tree or the inside of your nose.

Once cedar pollen gets into your system, its evil nature is revealed. Compared with it, ragweed is a wimp. The key is the biochemical structure of cedar pollen's protein coat, which appears to have properties that make it unusually noxious. Then there's the sheer quantity of the grains. In a rainy year the trees produce tons, and the pollen count, the Richter scale of allergy, goes through the roof."

 

[audreyh1]

rainy years, huh? No wonder the cedars are so loaded right now. I don't think I've ever seen them look quite as orange as they do right now.

I have been told that it usually takes several years to develop an allergy. Knock on wood, but DH being a native Texan, and myself having lived in TX > 30 years, we haven't developed it so I'm guessing we're the lucky ones. Double knock on wood!

Audrey

 

[wcv56]

If I ever relocate, it will not be in an all geezer community. In fact, I might retire to a small college town. I like the youth aspect along with lots of entertainment associated with a college. I love going to college sporting events and there are cultural activities associated with a nearby University. And you do have people your age there as more retirees are doing the same thing.

Of course nice golf courses are a must.

Dawg
I just bought a house in Tennessee for cheap property taxes but they do have higher sales tax and investment
income is taxed. The Knoxville area has several golf communities and the Tenn river for boating. Moderate climate which I hope save some of the aircon cost as my father is on oxygen and keeps the place cold.
They say housing is still going ok and several people moving in. I'll probably spend summers there looking after the folks and the rest of the year traveling in other countries like Costa Rica, Equador and any other places that eligible ex-wives are in abundance. I am a bit burnt out on the SE Asian sceen and sold my house before I really ever lived in it. The place is flooded with euro trashand asians with a bad attitude .

Housing prices are really cheap compared to many places for what you get.

Tellico Village - Where Friends Become Family

Tellico Village Property Owners Association

http://www.city-data.com/forum/tennessee/13052-chattanooga-knoxville-golf-communities.html

http://www.vacationeasttennessee.org/Golfbrochureweb.pdf

Tennessee Real Estate, Tennessee Homes for Sale, MLS Listings

 

[ziggy29]

In a rainy year the trees produce tons, and the pollen count, the Richter scale of allergy, goes through the roof."

This is what I'm afraid of. I suspect last year's drought may have resulted in a unusually mild year for the stuff. This year, with all the rain we've had -- 30 miles from here, they had 19 inches overnight in one night in June -- who knows? I know the pecan trees in the back yard are going nuts (unlike last year), I've had to mow the back forty a gazillion times this year, and the bugs (mostly grasshoppers and crickets) have been horrendous this year.

Perhaps this will be the next shoe to drop.